66Dave Pinkney
Joined 14 years ago from United Kingdom
For as long as I can remember I have been a gardener. Most of my life I have had a large garden in which to practise all I have learned, but on the other hand, for brief periods, pots and window boxes have been the extent of my plot.
Twenty years or so ago I began to put down on paper the results of some of my experiences, the joys and the agonies of gardening, the problems I have encountered and how I have overcome them, the tips gleaned from experienced men and women who have helped me, and not all of them so-called experts. In these twenty years I have had correspondence with many many gardeners - an invaluable aid in teaching me the hopes, the problems, the pleasures and the worries of the millions of people who enjoy gardening as the greatest of all hobbies.
I have learned and I have been taught many short cuts. I have found out that if the "correct" way involves too much time, labour or expense, then there will be a quicker, an easier and a cheaper way.
All of this has given me confidence to feel that I have something worth passing on. And the thought that I would most like to pass on to readers is that in your gardens you are the boss. You decide what kind of a garden you would like - the garden does not decide for itself. You decide what plants to grow. You decide how much time you can afford to spend in the garden. Whether your plot is already a green and pleasant land or rank wilderness, whether the area to be cultivated is large or small, whether your available time and energy is such that you can encompass acres of horticultural wealth or whether through other ties or perhaps age or infirmity your gardening is confined to single pot plants makes no difference. You should be the boss, never the slave.
Once this simple fact has been accepted, the puzzles, the fears and the complexities of gardening seem to lose their importance, for, if you are in command you must win.
The easier we make our gardening the more we will enjoy it. I have found it necessary with a busy lifestyle to find the easiest, quickest and cheapest way to carry out my inevitable daily tasks. And this has given me the leisure and the energy to enjoy my life to its fullest.
If, with these hubs and my website www.gardeninginfozone.com, I have been able to show you just how easy gardening can be, then my own pleasure in creating them and the site will have been increased.
PS. Unbeknown to me, my young nephew has been creating a website also, on the very same subject - worth a long look in my opinion: startgardening.info.
